


We Hold These Infinities (To Be Self-Evident)

by Toakenshire



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: (except when he swears in front of them), (lot of that fluff), Avengers: Endgame AU, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Family Fluff, Fix-It, Fluff, Fluff with Feels, Gen, Iron Family, Irondad, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker is a Good Bro, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Team as Family, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark is Good With Kids, family as family basically, spiderson, this is my post-endgame therapy, we live in a sweet land of denial where nothing bad ever happened to any of them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2020-02-16 09:16:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18688564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toakenshire/pseuds/Toakenshire
Summary: Morgan curses in front of everyone. More importantly, in front of Pepper. Time for Tony to blame Peter.





	We Hold These Infinities (To Be Self-Evident)

**Author's Note:**

> Endgame happened and I'm trying to pretend it didn't by burying myself in fluff. Did someone ordered some fix-it with Iron Fam flavor?
> 
> (many thanks to Menecio, whose help proved once again invaluable when checking my spelling and punctuations errors, as well as when the time comes to pick titles and write summaries)

“Shit.”

There’s beautiful irony in that. The fact that this simple word both perfectly translates his own appraisal of the situation and condemns him to an imminent doom.

He stares at the source of his upcoming demise. Seated on the couch, radiating all the energy of a baby human realizing just how much entertainment and profit she can gain from mischief, the flesh of his flesh is smiling. Meanwhile, her mother, sitting right beside her, isn’t smiling at all.

_Shit indeed._

“Wow,” Tony says, adopting his best outraged look. “Language!”

Of course, that makes Steve turn his head in their direction all the way from the kitchen. It’s almost like you could summon him with that joke none of them ever let go. Well, maybe mostly him.

“Tony…” Pepper’s sighs can sound so much like growls, it’s incredible.

He could of course take full responsibility for that. Or he could try playing one last card to avoid the Mom Roasting Pepper has in store for him.

“Peter did it,” he says, his finger shooting in direction of the spiderling currently sitting cross-legged on the carpet and working on his new webshooters. It’s not like it’s a total lie. Technically, if Peter didn’t drop that tiny but oh-so-crucial component during a very delicate manipulation, web fluid wouldn’t have leaked onto his pants, and Morgan wouldn’t have said what she said.

Peter’s eyes widen in the perfect mixture of shock, indignity, and betrayal.

_Sorry, kid._

“ _What?_ ”

“Everybody knows teenagers are a bad influence. You’re corrupting my daughter.”

“Tony _._ ”

“What th— hey, Ms. Potts, I swear to God, it’s not me!”

“ _Ms. Potts._ You know, we’re actually married now and—”

“ _Tony._ ”

“Yes, love? How shall I punish that unruly kid for corrupting the only innocent soul in this room?”

Said innocent soul is still beaming at the whole mess she started. And looking at him while doing so, which in a way isn’t really helping his case.

“You realize no one is believing you right now?” Rhodey asks, not taking his eyes off the book he’s reading. These glasses he’s wearing are giving him an old cat aunt look, it’s ridiculous.

“You,” Tony says with a dramatic pause, “are a traitor. I mean come on, what was so unbelievable here?”

“The fact that, one, we know you and two, I once saw Peter almost-swear when Morgan was in the next room and he looked like he was going to cry,” Sam cuts in, he and Steve walking back into the living room with two glasses of the healthy smoothie that _he_ prepared for the team. Ungrateful assholes, all of them.

“ _Hey!_ ”

“Just kidding, kid, relax. Although, I really think I saw your eyes shine very bright.”

“Leave the poor kid alone, Sam,” Steve says as he sits his patriotic ass back on the chair close to Rhodey’s. “He’s got enough to deal with with Tony.”

“First of all, that was gratuitous,” Tony replies.

“On a scale from “teaching swear words to your four-year-old daughter” to “accusing me of something I didn’t do”, how gratuitous would you say that was?”

Everyone — including his Machiavellian offspring — turns toward Peter. Sweet, _oh so innocent_ Peter. Tony wonders if this is this generation’s version of teenage rebellion. He might also be just a little proud of Peter’s concealed sarcastic powers.

“That’s a meme, right? Did you just try to roast me with a meme, Parker?”

“What’s a meme?” asks Morgan.

Rhodey snaps his book closed and drawls one of his signature ‘oh god’s’.

“That’s a thing Pete does when he tries to be mean but fails. Don’t follow his example though, or I’m never giving you juice pops again. Alright, bedtime for you.” He rises up and lifts Morgan into his arms, deliberately ignoring his wife, who of course won’t have it. Which is fine. Her not having it is one of the many, many reasons he loves her.

“And before that, you’ll promise to never use that word again,” she says, getting up as well to gently brush away the hair strands that got in Morgan’s eyes.

“Even if daddy uses it?”

She’ll be the death of him.

In every sense of the term.

“Especially if daddy uses it.” The glare she gives him. But the smile she has for Morgan can only tone down the Disapproving Mom attitude, so he’s fine, at least for now.

“He said that it was your word and you were the only one who has the right to use it.”

“Well,” and Tony swears that once her confusion fades, her smile is fully taking over her scowl, “your dad is right about that. That’s my word. And mom is gonna have to make the rules clear again for dad, it seems.”

Tony raises the hand that’s been resting on Morgan’s back to demonstrate his good will. “I’ll stop using your word, mom.” Pepper’s eyes fall on Morgan then back on him in a silent request. “I promise,” he adds.

“I promise,” the little mess repeats, imitating his tone of voice.

“Okay, case closed. Say goodnight to everyone, honey. Don’t you forget Uncle Steve just because he’s old.”

“Goodnight everyone.”

Capsicles’s pseudo-offense doesn’t bear close examination once confronted to Morgan’s smile and goodnight wave. He has no choice but to return it.

Yeah. His daughter is just that powerful.

She has them all wrapped around her little finger. And he, well... he’s wrapped around all of her fingers, he can’t deny it.

Everyone in the room soon follows Cap’s example while Morgan yawns against his shoulder.

And then there’s Peter.

“Goodnight Morg. Queen of Porgs.”

He looks down at the spiderling, whose subsequent hand gesture somehow manages to communicate both embarrassment and ‘yeah, I’ll explain that to you later’.

Tony’s eyes find Pepper’s. The kid is passing on his _Star Wars_ mania and Morgan is not even six yet. He asked for it, in a way. Pepper’s raised eyebrows certainly seem to tell him that.

“Goodnight, Petey.”

Tony smiles at that. Peter tends to get some special treatment from Morgan lately.

He can hear the tranquil conversations resume as he goes upstairs, his daughter turned octopus wrapped around him. He can’t see it, but he’s pretty sure she still has that mischievous (if sleepy) smile on her face. God knows what awaits them when she reaches adolescence.

“Alright, you evil mess,” he says once he’s tucked her into bed. “Got other numbers to pull on me like that one?”

She doesn’t bother answering because she’s too busy giggling and squirming when he innocently lets his fingers tickle the junction between her shoulder and her neck for a second.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

“Mom was angry.”

“Yup. She was. Congratulations, you’re sending daddy to parent jail.”

“She wasn’t _that_ angry. Maybe she won’t send you to jail.”

“Well, if you accept to be my lawyer,” he says as he boops her on the nose, winning another of her priceless quiet giggles for his effort, “maybe she won’t. Also if we both stop using her words, like promised. Especially you. I sometimes get grown-up coupons to use her words. But not you.”

“That’s not fair.”

“Tough life. Okay, do we agree?”

She gives him that pout she does when she’s about to demonstrate an example of childish goodwill.

“Okay. Business handshake!”

She extends her hand with surprising energy for a kid who yawned twice on their way to her room. Tony mimics it with all his former-CEO aplomb, and seals the deal. “Business handshake.”

Pinky promises are for losers, apparently.

“Alright. Sleepy time now.”

Except Morgan doesn’t move to get herself back in the proper horizontal position. If anything, she stares at him more intensely than a supposedly sleepy kid should. Tony recognizes this as one of the ‘Morgan H. Stark really wants something’ signs.

“What is it, Maguna?”

She remains silent for a few seconds, bringing her thumb to her mouth almost sheepishly, then says, “I forgot something.”

“Is that juice pops? Cause you’re getting no juice pops tonight honey, sorry.”

“ _Noo_ , it’s not that,” she whispers, and Tony swears he sees so much of Pepper in her when she keeps staring at him, mildly annoyed.

“Then what is it?” Tony whispers back. “Come on, you can tell. They can’t hear you downstairs and I’m not gonna sell you out.”

She keeps staring until the corner of her lips twitch up. “I want Peter.”

And well, if that doesn’t take him by surprise. Not the ‘wow, mind blown to Jupiter and all its moons’ kind of surprise, because a sharp and observant mind like his really couldn’t miss Morgan growing more and more attached to the spiderling with each second passed in his company. But still. That’s something new.

“Peter? As in you want Peter to come upstairs and say goodnight to you?”

She nods.

“As in, you’re officially granting Peter Parker the VIP pass?”

She nods again. “I want my spider brother. I forgot to tell him something.”

And just like that, Tony’s heart may have just melted.

“Well. We better get him up here now, don’t we?” he says, pressing a command on his bracelet. The next second, the bracelet expands to completely envelop his wrist and hand as the nanobots form his emergency iron gauntlet. Two extra taps of his fingers and a triangle-shaped drone escapes from the already receding gauntlet, and flies out of the bedroom with a low buzz. “Here we go, kiddo.”

“Daddy, what are memes?”

“Something you’ll never learn about until it’s too late to keep you off the Internet. I already have Peter’s jokes, no need to have you repeat the same ones on loop.” Like Pepper did earlier, Tony tucks her hair behind her ear. He secretly loves that her hair remains undisciplined. It gives him more excuses and opportunities to do those small gestures. “Love you tons.”

That’s when he hears the heavy footsteps of someone running up the stairs like a life is in danger. Which is so much like Peter. Next second, he appears in the door frame with his big, widened brown eyes.

“Er… You called me? Is everything alright? I got your drone and—”

“Yup. Because I sent it. Morgan apparently forgot to tell you something very important. We’d have been both responsible for her not sleeping at a decent hour if I didn’t let her. She wants her spider brother.”

Peter looks at him, then at Morgan, then back at him. “I quote,” Tony adds with a fond smirk. “Come on, she doesn’t bite. At least, not after dinner.” He boops her on the nose again and kisses her on her forehead before rising up.

Peter finally walks past whatever invisible barrier he put in front of him to take his place next to the bed. “Hey, Morg. What is it you wanna tell me?”

“ _Queen of the Porgs_ , tsk,” Tony mutters under his breath. He knows before he looks that makes Peter smile.

For a second, he thinks he should step outside, let his kids have whatever conversation they should have. But that would be forgetting about his daughter’s ability to go straight to the point.

She straightens on her bed, palms against the mattress, and leans against Peter’s ear, even if her whispering is one of those that sound too loud.

“I love you one thousand.”

And it’s too late to walk out now, because all Tony can do is stand there and look at them.

He’s pretty much certain he’s never heard Morgan use her numeral love scale with anyone but him and Pep. Peter is simply _beaming_ at her and Tony can feel, spreading under the thin veil of surprise, that unique warmth that takes over his whole chest whenever he sees the two of them play or laugh together. Like that time when Peter let Morgan try the Spider-Man mask on and she giggled when he activated Karen. _Is she Friday’s sister?_ she asked. _Guess she is_ , Peter replied. _Her little sister_. And the expression on the kid’s face then… Well. Tony still isn’t quite used to receiving way more than he thinks he deserves.

“One thousand? _No way!_ That’s really a lot.”

“Yes. I thought about five hundred, but it wasn’t enough.”

“Five hundred is already a lot, Morg, but one thousand? Now _that_ ’s a big number.”

“Yeah. I like thousands. They’re my favorite numbers.”

“They’re pretty good numbers. I like smaller numbers. Like two.”

Morgan frowns as if in deep thought. “Okay, well you can have all the numbers under one thousand, and I take the numbers over one thousand.”

“That gives you a lot of numbers.”

“Nah, because there are infinite numbers.”

Tony bows his head, because he might just be smiling like a truly blessed idiot.

_That’s my girl._

“Okay,” Peter snorts, taken aback by the munchkin’s precocious knowledge of mathematical infinity. “You’re right, I forgot. I’m tired, you know, it’s been a long day.”

“Have you finished fixing your webs? I wanna see them.”

“Not yet. I think I’ll finish tomorrow. I need sleep. Like you. So you sleep tight, right?”

“You’ll be here tomorrow?”

“Sure. I’m staying for the night.”

“We can go play in the garage then.”

“Can we, now?” Tony chimes in, because that is one recipe for disaster if he’s ever heard one. Peter turns toward him. If his expression is any indication, he’s apparently not too bothered by Tony still being in the room and witnessing that tooth-rotting moment between them. “We’ll see about that. Alright, little mess. Time to sleep for real.”

Morgan nods, but doesn’t lie down before she’s given Peter a goodnight kiss on the cheek and got one in return. “G’night, Morg.”

Peter waits until she diligently closes her eyes to stand up and join him at the door. As soon as he walks out, Tony takes on last peek at his daughter and catches her blinking her eyes open.

“One thousand? Wow.” he mouths at her at a very low voice.

She laughs under her sheets. Tony gives her the ‘I’m watching you’ gesture and closes the door without a sound. Then slowly turns to Peter.

“You,” he says, “are a very lucky man. One thousand is a lot. She started with one hundred with me. How did this happen, when did you win her over like that?”

Peter shrugs, letting that hint of self-consciousness crawls its way back to his shoulders. “I don’t know. I gave her sweets the other day.”

“I’m telling Pepper it was you. She didn’t believe me.”

“Oh, come on. She did this puppy-eyes thing,” Peter protests with this rising pitch of his whenever he’s getting himself into one of those long justifications for whatever mess he got himself into. “Plus, they were not even that sugary, and she told me she hadn’t had any in a while.”

“Of course she did,” Tony sighs, taking them away from the door so they don’t disturb Morgan’s supposed sleep.

“Anyway, you accused me of the shit thing, so we’re square, right?”

“Don’t say it like it’s a victory you can take credit for, kid. Plus it didn’t work. People think you’re just as innocent as her anyway. They’re wrong, of course. You’re both gonna kill me someday.”

It takes him a moment to realize Peter has slowed down to a stop in the middle of the corridor. His smile is gone, and his eyes have averted to the ground.

Tony’s own words rewind in his mind. Pep already told him that he should refrain from joking about his potential death following the fight against Thanos. He’s found it a good way to cope with the uncomfortable — and let’s admit it — downright painful memory of it all. But he’s ready to put that into question, especially when looking at Peter now.

His voice gets lower. “Sorry. Too soon?”

Peter’s eyes snap back at him. “No, no, it’s okay, I just— it’s just still fresh, you know. It’s stupid, I’m sorry.”

“Hey. Stop that. Right now.”

Peter frowns his eyebrows. “Stop what?”

“Apologizing when there’s no reason for you to. Especially when I’m the one who’s doing or saying the stupid thing.”

“Okay,” Peter replies with a tentative chuckle. “Sorry. I mean—”

“Pete, come on.” He takes a step closer because yeah, they might as well do this right here, right now. They won’t disturb Morgan at that distance and the others should be too busy bantering or doing crossword puzzles to interrupt their little moment. Because if there’s one thing Tony has learned to do, it’s to allow these moments to happen. And occasionally, when the outcome isn’t too bad or doesn’t end up with him screwing up, to cherish them. Because he’s come too close to losing that several times, and he’d be the damndest fool not to seize it when he’s been given many second chances already. “Okay. We’re doing this. What’s eating you?”

“It’s just… I can’t stop thinking about it, you know? Not just the battle, I mean it was scary and all, but… We almost lost, and it was the most terrifying thing. I mean with, you know, Titan.”

Tony feels like ice is forming in his throat just at the mention of that rusted world. With it come nightmare visions he’ll probably keep having for many years to come. Even when existence is fixed, you can’t simply erase that kind of terror and despair.

“And when you almost died,” Peter continues, his eyes a little too bright, his breath a little too loud. “It was even scarier. I really thought you were gonna die. Even after everything, even at the hospital…” He stops and avoids Tony’s gaze, looking for words he’s never said to him. “And all I could think was how I could have done better. How I could have helped and maybe you wouldn’t be in that state, maybe you wouldn’t die. And then I saw Pepper and Morgan, and then Pepper told me about when you decided to go with the time heist thing and the reasons why you changed your mind, and it was too much. Because if you died, then it would be because of me.”

It almost escapes him, but he catches it. The small crack in Peter’s voice on this last sentence.

“And _Morgan_. Each time I looked at her at the hospital, I— I was terrified. Because she could have—”

“Come here.”

The kid’s glassy eyes widen in confusion. If that successfully made him stop to take a breath, it doesn’t look like the main information carried across. “What?”

Tony opens his arms ever so slightly. “Come here. I’m not moving, so you’re gonna have to get closer. Like I said, we’re doing this.” Last time, he was the one who needed to take the step. Now, he wants Peter to take it. Because he needs to know he can.

Peter just stares at him. He finally closes his mouth after a while, and the next second, he’s in Tony’s arms.

“Feels good?”

“... yeah.”

“See? Not dead.”

Peter buries a wet laugh in his shoulder.

“And even if I was, Pete, it would never be your fault. And I really, really need you to agree with me on this one, kid, because I’m telling you, I can’t take that guilt of yours. It’s gonna eat you up if you don’t stop. Believe me, I know. So stop.” He releases his embrace so that Peter can look him in the eye. “I was terrified too. But I’d made my own choices. And we made it, right? We feather-dustered all that mess. And you did so well. I can’t see one single timeline where you’d have to apologize for any of that crap. You can ask the magician if you want. I checked with him.”

That gets him a real, proper smile. “No, you didn’t.”

“No, I didn’t. Because I know it already. I don’t need these time magic tricks of his.” he says, giving Peter’s forehead a gentle flick. “You’re doing good, Spider-Man. And Morgan is lucky to have you. And so am I.”

He’s not gonna cry but judging by the sudden tension around Peter’s eyes, it seems like the kid just might. He’s almost doesn’t anticipate it when Peter throws his arms around him again.

“I’m lucky too,” Peter says.

And okay. He won’t say it out loud, because poor taste and everything. But his kids _will_ be the death of him. He’s fine with that.

“Damn right, you are,” Tony says when Peter lets go. He sniffs once, like each time he’s assaulted by emotions a bit too strong for his taste. “One thousand, hmm? Don’t get cocky though. I’m still leading the scoreboard.”

“How much?”

“Three thousand.”

And yes, he’ll keep being smug about it.

“That’s pretty good. Even if it’s not a competition.”

“Of course. Anyway, I’d be winning.”

“Yeah, but I started directly at one thousand and you didn’t, so you know…”

“Shut up. I’m the one buying her toys, clothes, and food. You got nothing except sweets.”

“I promised I’d get her a Porg plushie.”

Tony looks at him. Curse and blessing, all in one soul.

“It’s too late for me to say I’m taking away your suit, right?”

“ _One thousand_ , Mr. Stark.”

He ruffles the kid’s hair in reprisal as they head back to the stairs. While Peter makes his way back to the living room, Tony leans against the guardrail for a moment.

“Hah, Peter,” he hears Rhodey say. “You know stuff about spiders? Because I got one definition here...”

Tony stifles his laugh, because of course, Grandma Rhodey would actually be playing crosswords. Peter walks to him, already on his way to try his best even if, judging by his expression, he probably knows more about nanotech now than about the species that operated as the unexpected vessel for his powers.

Pepper does not take long to notice his retreat, and she turns toward him with a questioning look. He’s not sure what expression he has on his face right now, but what she sees apparently pleases her, because her eyes are suddenly filled with that most perfect blend of love and understanding that he’s only ever seen in her. She follows his gaze and turns back to take a look at Peter too. He notices then that she’s holding Morgan’s lizard plushie on her lap. Morgan has a deep love for lizards and dragons. Peter mentioned an old vivarium school trip not so long ago, and she drank his every word.

And it’s at that moment, lost in the contemplation of lizard toys and obscure arachnid classification that Tony knows. Three thousand might be a mighty big figure, but what’s most precious in it is the infinite decimals between each whole number.

Infinity in numbers. And he’ll give it all to them.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy denial everyone!


End file.
